Dry ore concentrator



1950 I F. J. MATHEWS 2,518,043

DRY ORE CONCENTRATOR Filed May 51, 1946 1a I F165. F116. 1 16.7. FRANK J M/ILTHEWJ,

NVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 8, 1 950 p I 7 12,518,045 i l JDB L ENTRAT 1 v I Frank J .jMathews, Hollywood, *Calif.

A z olaimsr r. n

' This invention relate t m- I u L I "fl mong the obj'ect s of the' invention are: to simplify certain feature's of the construction" of a dry'ore concentratorj to reduce the number of parts required in th'e'constructi'on of an eificient dry-concentrator; to-pr'o'videj an' -iinpr'ov'ed endless conveyor structure for operating the'irifiles', and 1 to] provide an improved; simplified means for intermittently inip'arting" a sudden jerking movement to the" endless conveyor,'th'ereby causing' more rapid s'eparationfof the valuable i ore from-the tailing's.- v

-' v 'Other objects, advantages and featur'es of invention will-hereinafter appear. I v Referring to the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment of 'the'inven- Fig. I is a rear elevation of the completem'achine." 1; ":r Ic- Fig. 2 is a vertical section thereof, the plane M 31'? P e am of section being indicated by the line" 2--'-2 of I Fig. 1, certain portions or 'the "structure I therebeyond beingbrokenaway' to disclose additional "mechanism;

I Fig. 3 is a transverse section-,the plane' of 'section being indicatedby line 3--3 of Figalz-" Fig. 4 is a' side elevation of' the "conveyor-actuating pawl, the view"including-:a iportio'n of the driving means roman pawl? and'i also a ratchet wheel with which'it cooperatesr."

Fig. 515 an enlarged: cross. section-ofthe feed trough through whichz'uorer is supplied to-the endless conveyor, together Withijthfi amean's for advancing the ore along said trough; the plane .ofvsection being indicated byv line 55 'on' Fi 3.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross, section of; one'of the side pieces of the endless conveyor, together with a 'portion'of thG aIIChOIQSCIEW; the plane of section being online 6- 6 .of Fig-12 x731 v Fig. '7 is an enlarged crOsssection of the endless conveyor'on'line 1- -'-'I1of'Fig.';2.

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional detail showing' the rifilestructure on anenlarged scales",-

Referring in detail to'the drawing, an inclined endless conveyor! ofthe belt or;canvastype is shown having an upper roller 8, a lower roller '9, v

and an endless canvas belt l0 driven'bysaid rollers, said beltparrying a series ofproperly be A of an inch wide and have its'frontedge about of an inch high and itsoback edgeabout of an inch high',= thus giving to each slat a sloping top surface Ila; so that said relatively silt is 'as'cendingthe upper run of the inclined endless conveyor. v -"Said upperroller B'is shown supported'by'a shaft 83 journalled in standards I2 mounted upon 55 crossbars' l3- of'themain frarne, while 'the'l'ower roller 9 is-shown supported by stub shafts 9a upon side pieces ["5 which form a part of the oscillatory frame of the endless conveyor. 'Said side pieces I'5 'are channel shaped in cross section '(see Fig-.L 6) with their flanges I6 directed out Wardly.

Sa'id endless conveyor is driven in'the direction indicated by the'arrow in Fig. 2 by'means of two twinpawl operating assemblies 2 la and 2 lb. Describing the pawl-operating assembly 2Ia"('see :Fig'. '2-)", a' pawl--21 :has at itsfree enda' tooth 22 which cooperates with a ratchet wheel 23 turning with the upper" roller 8 of the conveyor. The driving means for said pawl comprises a' duplex 0am disk 24 having in it diametrically opposite canrnotches 25. "Said cam disk is centrally seured-toa driving shaft 26 andtheattached end Y portiorr'of the pawl has through. it an elongated slot 21 sufiiciently wide" to fitiiove'r *the'shaft'26 2 with a slidable fit. Also there is provided' for -the* pawl*a retractingsprin'g 28 the free end "of said sprin'gbeing secured at 29 to the pawl not far from'its' free end and the opposite end of 'said s-pring being anchored to' the *frame'. 14 0 atg3llx Not far from its slotted'endthe pawl is provided with a laterallyextending operating pin "31 which is positioned to move in and'out' of -tli'e notches under the urge-of the spring--28. 'Each of the notches 25 is provided at one end 3 w ith "anabrupt-shoulder 25a, the remainder of the n'otch being inclined in the manner shown so that whenthe cam is rotated in the direction indicated by thearrow in Fig. 4 the pin 3! will "suddenly enter firstione and then the other of *thetwonotch'e's but will be more slowly withdrawri from said =notches "by the car'n action of t'their inclinedportions. The pawl-operating de- 'vice 2117' at the opposite side oftlie conveyor, :beung-constructed in'the' same manner as thexal- -ready described device 21a, said device 21b need no detailed description. wReturning to the endless conveyor 1, said conveyor is adjustably supported at an inclination :of about forty-five degrees by means of pendant spaced apart 'riflles- H. Each rifileslat llxshouldiiifiO .links'32 having" hooked upper :ends133 pivotally anchored inaperturesin' the angle iron frame ylegs '34',.the lower ends of said links being con- 'nected by nuts 32a to the upper flanges ofchan- :nels 1.5, permitting adjustment of the inclination -1'sl0ping surface i'sabouthorizontal whiletthe .slaizrzi of the conveyor-i. I I

'upper frame piece 48'. 'tube 4.1 has a frusto-coni'cal expansion-50 con-- centric tothe already mentioned conical? hub 45,

Prepared ore is fed to the conveyor 1 from an open-topped feed trough 35 mounted upon the frame [4 superjacent to the upper run of the conveyor and extending across said run in a substantially horizontal direction, said trough having an ore receiving end portion which projects from the right side of the conveyor as viewed in Fig. 1. This trough is arcuate as viewed in cross section and it is mounted in a slightly tilted position (seeFig-i 2) so that the side-thereofwhich is nearest to the upper end of the conveyor is considerably lower than the opposite side of the trough. Also the trough progressively narrows as it extends across the conveyor (seeFig; 3-) to. ward the side of the conveyor farthest from the ore receiving end of the trough. I

A spiral ore feeding blade 36, fixed. to, a: sup plementary driving shaft 31, is mounted interiorly of said trough in a position to advance the-ore along the trough after it has been fed into the already mentioned projecting end portion of the trough, the advancing ore progressively-discharging over the edgeof the trough. Saidspiralrblade tapersfromend to end in amanner corresponding to the taper of the trough. Said-shaft 31 has fi'xed'torit a pulley IO which is driven by a belt H. 'Ore'lis'fed to the-wide end of the. taperedtrough from a conical hopper 38 rotatably supported upon a conical balk bearin structure 38a which surrounds the lower end portion of said" hopper, said bearing structure being supported by a framecross'piece- 39; Said hopper hasa tubular downward outlet extension 40 positionedover'the receiving end portion of the trough 35', the di- 'ameterof saidextension being slightly 'reducedat I 4"! Where'it is'surrounded by a lowerball bearing sustained by a standard 43 mounted: uponthe aforesaid transverse frame member I 3-.

An ore-sorting device is mounted within the mouthportien-of the hopper 38; this device comprising a horizontal disk having an upwardly projecting central conical hub-45. Said disk 44 is shown furnished with four equally spaced apart peripheral" attaching arms 46 which are downcurved into and attached to the-mouth portion of the hopper, their-upper endsbeing attached to said disk. Upon the upper face of said disk are mounted: a plurality of curved fins 44b which radiate-from the lower end of the hub 45 and are circumferentially spaced apart as'shown in Fig; '3.

Ore'isfedto the hopper from a suitablesupply (not shown), through a verticaltube 41' extending' through guide means 49 supported upon" the The lower end of'said there being an ore feeding clearance between these two conical parts. As'thefed'ore' is' deposited upon theasp'aced'apart'fins 44b, carried by the rotating disk 44, the larger pieces of ore are 'caused to be centrifuged away from the hopper and fall onto any suitable receiving means (not shown) provided for them while the finer maing pins 63 so spaced apart as to act properly terial drops down through the annular space-44c 7 between the disk 44 and the mouth of the"hop-' per 38.

During the operation of the machine: the hop- -p'er 38 is continuously rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig; 3 by means of a pulley 5'2' turned by the driving belt 53 driven by any suitable means (not shown). A spacingisleeveri l placed around the tube 48 between said pulley and'th'e bearing 42 At the power supply endof themain'driving means is a pulley 55 driven bya .belt 56, said pulley 55 being securedrtc; one end upon the projecting end portions of the conveyor riflle'lsl ats H, thus to cause a positive advance of the riflie-carrying canvas H! of the endless conveyon l.

Between. adjacent riffles along each side edge portion of the canvas belt ID are rubber strips H's: which are angular in cross section, one of their flanges being secured to the belt and their other flanges normally projecting away from the face of the belt to hem in the conveyed ore. As these. rubber. strips,v pass over the rollers their last mentioned flanges are deflectedlinwardly so as to accommodate the curvature atv that time producedin-the attached flanges.v I

In the-operation of the device; most of the work will be done with theendless conveyor adjusted to-a forty=five degreevangle, butsome wonk'can besdone with said conveyor ataless angle. The canvas 'portion'of said conveyor'should be advanced one-half; of aninch ata time-by the-pawl 2|. The movement is very sudden, not cam-like. By this movement'all-thematerial, on the upper run of the endless-conveyoriis-locsened' upand as it settlesa back again the concentrates will; work downto the canvasadjacent to the upper edges of the ascending slats and will be carried pastthe -.place-vo feed upnoven the upper roller'and then it will drop into a chute or receptacle provided to; receive them].- And as a fresh supply ofthe material is continually falling onto the upper portion of the upper canvas run itbeg-ins to fall from one slattol the-nex-t one belowuntil. the

concentrates work down and accumulate-to the upper edgesof theascendingslats, crowding the lightermat'enials up overthe slats, so that only the concentrates remain? adjacent the upper sides of the slats to be carried-up over the top-roller, while the lighter materials keep falling downwardly from: oneislat to another until they reach the lowerend of the-endless conveyor and" are thence carriedito the'tailing" dump.

The foregoing concentrating operation would be very slow'were it not'for" the sorting metlzu'ads before the material reaches the concentrator. First, two-thirds of'the material iseliminated at a trommeli-screeir; Then theremaining'portiorr is put" thro'ughva dryclassifir which removes all sizes that do not carry'va'lues; and: the remainder of not over thirty to ten per cent ofthe original bulk is all that is d'eiivered to'the-con-centrator;

I claim 1. In a dry ore concentrator, a main frame, l-a

belt" type inclined endless conveyor mounted thereon and" provided with rifiie strips and comprising an upper and'alower belt supporting roller and" a. conveyor frame upon which said rollers are mounted to turn; about substantially horizontal axes; an open-topped feed trough mounted upon said main frame superjacent' to the upper part of the: upper run of said conveyor, and extending in a substantially:horizontal direction and having a receiving'end' portion project- 755 ing-beyondioneside or said conveyor; saiditrough diminishing in depth from its said feed end portion to a point adjacent to its opposite end, means to feed prepared ore into said projecting end portion of said trough, a feeding spiral extending internally along said trough, means to rotate said spiral in a direction to feed the ore to the conveyor, and mechanical means connected with said conveyor to drive it in an intermittent manner in a direction toadvance its upper run in an upward direction, said feed trough having an arcuate cross section which tapers away from the orereceiving end of the trough, said feeding spiral tapering in correspondence with the taper of said trough.

2. In an ore concentrator of the kind described, a support, an endless inclined conveyor supported thereon, said conveyor comprising an endless belt portion and rollers over which it passes, transversely extending riffles carried by said belt spaced apart lengthwise thereof, said riffies havin end portions projecting beyond each side of the belt and at least one of said rollers having radially extending pins positioned to engage said projecting end portions of said rifiies thereby to advance said belt portion.

FRANK J. MATHEWS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 213,553 Eastwood Mar. 25, 1879 215,289 Plant May 13, 1879 233,398 Briggs Oct. 19, 1880 280,934 Kent July 10, 1883 292,637 Fairfield Jan. 29, 1884 528,386 Pardee Oct. 30, 1894 714,257 Sutton et a1 Nov. 25, 1902 795,095 Bendit July 18, 1905 822,912 Boss June 12, 1906 1,337,280 Sibley Apr. 20, 1920 1,358,375 Koch Nov. 9, 1920 1,384,313 Fraser July 12, 1921 1,517,509 Hokans'on Dec. 2, 1924 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 364,152 Germany Dec. 24, 1921 

